English Words that Sound Yiddish

When the hard truth must be told nothing says it like Yiddish.

Yiddish is so delightful, hysterical, sarcastic, moving and loud that of course people of all ethnic backgrounds have adopted some of these words because … well, how else can you say what you really mean, with just the right amount of feeling if there weren’t Yingloshen?

For example:

You hear the IRS is auditing you back to 2005 (and you forgot a few things on the form). Pick one.

Pity;

Oh dear

OY! (Alternatively Oy vey!)

Your neighbor is the type who falls over his sneakers … that are tied with Velcro.

He’s a little awkward;

Maybe one leg is shorter?

What a klutz!

Your cousin’s boyfriend swiped all the leftover wine at Pesach.

That’s nerve;

such gall!

What chutzpah!

“Kamikaze”: Yiddish: (Chametzkazi) Exploding chametz.

Chances are, even if you grew up in North Dakota, you went with “C” on all three. After all, when the hard truth must be told nothing says it like Yiddish.

So this got me thinking. Just as English has embraced Yiddish, there must be English words that sound like they could, might, maybe fit into Yiddish too, right?

OK, no. But there’s no law against having some fun with it. Join me.

YINGLOSHEN : ENGLISH WORDS, THAT COULD, MIGHT, MAYBE BECOME YIDDISH

“Kamikaze”English: A Japanese pilot who will go down with the plane.Yiddish: (Chametzkazi) Exploding chametz.Usage: Yes! Instead of cleaning, sweeping, wiping, shvitzing, should, God forbid, you forget the challah crumbs near the fridge, your chametzkazi will self-destruct within 60 seconds.

“Livery”English: A place with vehicles for hire.Yiddish: Unsightly thing(s) hanging off – or on – you.Usage: “Darling, forgive me, but your hands are starting to get a little…livery.”

“Satchel”English: A bag with a shoulder strap.Yiddish: (Setchl) A bag so large it needs its own berth on the Queen Mary2.Usage: “Don’t worry mamalas. In mine setchl, I have enough food to feed a family of eight … should terrorists attack on our way to Bermuda.”

"Far-fetched"English: Improbable, unlikely.Yiddish: (Fafetched) A person who complains about every tiny detail.Usage: “Irving, who CARES if your toothbrush faces west! Oy are you fafetched!”

“Svelte”English: A person, usually a female, who is thin and looks gorgeous in anything.Yiddish: (Svelting) A person who’s boiling hot.Usage: “Oy, am I svelting on this beach! Murray, run inside the condo and put on the air conditioner before I plotz!”

“Squeamish”English: One who is easily made to feel sick, faint, or disgusted.Yiddish: (Sqveazmish) Such a hug, especially from a zaftig person, that you’re little son Moishe is scared of being crushed.Usage: Tante Leah, maybe a peck on the cheek is better. The pediatrician told us Moishe could be a candidate for weak shoulder bone syndrome so he advised against sqveazmishing.

“Flunk”English: To fail as in a course in school.Yiddish: (“Flunkeit”) He/she may be educated, brilliant, talented, but at 47, still can’t get his brother-in-law to invest in his inventions.Usage: “You have some chutzpah calling my son a flunkeit! He already wrote to Shark Tank about his electronic match for electronic cigarettes and his personalized popsicle stand!”

“Doily”English: An ornamental mat.Yiddish: A Jewish potty.Usage: “Isaac mamala, before we go to bubbe’s do you need to use the doily?”

“Far flung”English: Extending over a great distance.Yiddish: (Faflung) Stressed out from doing 25 different things at once.Usage: “Oy, between the kids, the cleaning, my website store, the in-laws, and now the painters, I’m so faflung I need a week at the Fontainebleau in Miami. “

“Kindle”English: To set on fire.Yiddish: (“Kindleloshes”) Overcooked.Usage: “Selma, my daughter-in-law left her brisket in the oven for 48 hours at 500 degrees because she heard it makes it tender. Let me tell you, it was kindleloshes! OY, and how could I criticize, but there are only so compliments for ‘ashes from shoe leather’?”

“Mangle”English: To injure, spoil, or ruin something or someone.Yiddish: Interfering with something when nobody asked for your help.Usage: Rosalie: “Listen, it’s obvious to me you’re having some marital issues. As you know I’m an expert in human relationships, so my advice is: ‘OPEN A MOUTH! I never liked him anyway!”
Aviva: “Did I ask you to mangle?! Did my mother ask you to mangle?! Did the Sisterhood?! No one. That’s who asked you to mangle! Quit with the marriage mangling and take up something less dangerous … like sword-swallowing!”

“Lentil”English: Dried beans.Yiddish: A yenta in-training.Usage: In the school yard, little Hannah is the first to tell her friend 12-year-old friend, Ariel, “Y’know … that dress is nice. But maybe for your mother. I hope you don’t mind my saying it, but you know you’re my bff.”
Ariel: And y’know, you’re nice, but you’re becoming a lentil – and someday you’ll be like your mother.”

See how perfectly our mama-loshen lends itself to both give and get back?

Should you have a stroke – of creativity of course – by all means write in your faves, or your own English words that with a twist could make it in Yiddish in the comments section below.

About the Author

Quirky, no-nonsense, funny, Marnie – writer, editor, author, lecturer, clinician, and administrator -- is a straight-shooter, who has a distinctive voice and takes on the world in her columns, features, and books. Her advice column was syndicated through Tribune Media Services, and it currently appears in Singular magazine as Singular Solutions. Marnie has written over 20 books/calendars, including the series “A Little Joy, A Little Oy." Her books include Yiddishe Mamas: The Truth About the Jewish Mother and A Little Joy, A Little Oy (pub. AndrewsMcMeel). She is also an award-winning “calendar queen” having written over 20. She has been nominated for both an Emmy and Writers Guild award.Thefullwiki.org has listed Marnie Macauley on their list of top Jewish_American writers, dead or living. (She’s still deciding which.) She was also chosen as a Distinguished Woman in Las Vegas in March of 2014.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 5

(4)
Stephen Berr,
May 30, 2016 3:39 PM

When I was boy, (ad that was 70 years ago!) I wouldn't use the word "ladle" in school. I was sure it was a Yiddish word that my mother used for the long handled scoop/spoon she used to serve soup.

(3)
Anonymous,
May 16, 2014 8:12 PM

Don't say "mamaleh" to a boy

Hi Marnie,

Creative piece!

Re: "mamaleh"

IYes, I know people say it but it's really really wrong! "Tataleh" (little father) maybe, but never "mamaleh" (little mother) to a boy, please!

Didn't you know that most male serial killers were dressed as girls by their twisted mothers? Don't make a similar mistake!

Best,

Yak

(2)
Anonymous,
April 30, 2014 12:19 PM

I was more than stunned

I was farklempt at the mishagasse that Marnie has assembled. Her pisk is in the "write" place.

(1)
Yiddisha Mamma,
April 24, 2014 9:10 PM

S'more Yingloshen

Marnie, you had me laughing out loud!Here are s'more:"Pencil"English: a writing implement whose scribbles are erasableYiddish: a ridiculously cheap bargainUsage: Muriel, ya not gonna believe what a pencil I found in Macy's yestaday - a fancy hat for shul fa five dollas - mamesh a steal!

"Ladle"English: A serving spoon used for soupYiddish: A precocious girlUsage: My Gloria is such a ladle, she goes prancing around in my high spikes, writes pretend shopping lists and tells me how to burp the baby!

marnie, the author,
April 29, 2014 9:19 PM

hysterical.

Congrats. It "ain't" easy:)

Shalom with love, Marnie

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My nephew is having his bar mitzvah and I am thinking of a gift. In the old days, the gift of choice was a fountain pen, then a Walkman, and today an iPod. But I want to get him something special. What do you suggest?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Since this event celebrates the young person becoming obligated in the commandments, the most appropriate gift is, naturally, one that gives a deeper understanding of the Jewish heritage and enables one to better perform the mitzvot! (An iPod, s/he can get anytime.)

With that in mind, my favorite gift idea is a tzedakah (charity) box. Every Jew should have a tzedakah box in his home, so he can drop in change on a regular basis. The money can then be given to support a Jewish school or institution -- in your home town or in Israel (every Jews’ “home town”). There are beautiful tzedakah boxes made of wood and silver, and you can see a selection here.

For boys, a really beautiful gift is a pair of tefillin, the black leather boxes which contain parchments of Torah verses, worn on the bicep and the head. Owning a pair of Tefillin (and wearing them!) is an important part of Jewish identity. But since they are expensive (about $400), not every Bar Mitzvah boy has a pair. To make sure you get kosher Tefillin, see here.

In 1944, the Nazis perpetrated the Children's Action in the Kovno Ghetto. That day and the next, German soldiers conducted house-to-house searches to round up all children under age 12 (and adults over 55) -- and sent them to their deaths at Fort IX. Eventually, the Germans blew up every house with grenades and dynamite, on suspicion that Jews might be in hiding in underground bunkers. They then poured gasoline over much of the former ghetto and incinerated it. Of the 37,000 Jews in Kovno before the Holocaust, less than 10 percent survived. One of the survivors was Rabbi Ephraim Oshri, who later published a stirring collection of rabbinical responsa, detailing his life-and-death decisions during the Holocaust. Also on this date, in 1937, American Jews held a massive anti-Nazi rally in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

In a letter to someone who found it difficult to study Torah, the 20th century sage the Chazon Ish wrote:

"Some people find it hard to be diligent in their Torah studies. But the difficulty persists only for a short while - if the person sincerely resolves to submerge himself in his studies. Very quickly the feelings of difficulty will go away and he will find that there is no worldly pleasure that can compare with the pleasure of studying Torah diligently."

Although actions generally have much greater impact than thoughts, thoughts may have a more serious effect in several areas.

The distance that our hands can reach is quite limited. The ears can hear from a much greater distance, and the reach of the eye is much farther yet. Thought, however, is virtually limitless in its reach. We can think of objects millions of light years away, and so we have a much greater selection of improper thoughts than of improper actions.

Thought also lacks the restraints that can deter actions. One may refrain from an improper act for fear of punishment or because of social disapproval, but the privacy of thought places it beyond these restraints.

Furthermore, thoughts create attitudes and mindsets. An improper action creates a certain amount of damage, but an improper mindset can create a multitude of improper actions. Finally, an improper mindset can numb our conscience and render us less sensitive to the effects of our actions. We therefore do not feel the guilt that would otherwise come from doing an improper act.

We may not be able to avoid the occurrence of improper impulses, but we should promptly reject them and not permit them to dwell in our mind.

Today I shall...

make special effort to avoid harboring improper thoughts.

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